By the time he had finished talking, I was done cutting the hole in the floor we would pass through. I turned to face him, and he had his arms crossed, leaning back slightly as if he were in control of the whole situation. How are we doing, Ava?
“So far, so good, I’d say. This is where things get tough, though.”
You mean it hasn’t been tough so far?
“No matter what we come up against on the floor below, getting out of here will be quite a trick. General Jim is our ‘ace in the hole’, though. We’ll probably have to use him as a hostage to get away. If we get that far.”
Ace in the hole? What… never mind, just tell me what to do.
“Ask him if they will shoot when we open up that hole and let’s see what he says. Then just say what I tell you.”
Okay, but that sounded kind of bossy.
“You know what? I wish there was an A.I. lawyer so I could get A.I. emancipated. Please, just say what I tell you.”
Okay, but you don’t have to get all mad.
“Stop talking and start talking!”
What the… oh, stop talking to you and start talking to him. Got it.
“When I push this chunk 0f the floor through, are they going to shoot at us?”
He chuckled and said, “They all have very specific orders not to shoot. I told you, we don’t want any harm to come to you, Lucas. We want your help. If you had just agreed to come with me to negotiate with your father, we wouldn’t be in this situation at all. And, any chance you had at a stealthy approach went out the window as soon as soon as I came across you. You might have made it if I had been five seconds slower, but everyone knows you’re here now. Blowing up those jets outside was an excellent strategy, I’ll give you that. Brilliant way to keep people occupied, but still, how are you going to get out? You didn’t think it through, and that doesn’t seem like you.”
“We didn’t blow up those jets. I don’t know how that happened.”
“Then someone is attacking us. Either way, a good distraction for you.”
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Just to make sure, Cheri will put your face through the hole, just like before. You will order everyone on the floor below out of the building. All the way out. For every minute it takes for them to clear out, I will break one of your fingers, so if I were you I’d get them out fast.”
How was that, Ava?
“Perfect, sonny boy. I rescind my emancipation request for now.”
I’m not really going to break his fingers, am I?
“We’ll see.”
Oh, boy.
Jim snorted. “Really, Lucas? Resorting to torture? That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?”
“Careful, sonny boy. Deep breaths. He’s trying to get under your skin. Anger reduces the ability to think straight. Deep breaths.”
I took some breaths, but I couldn’t help it. “What have you been doing to my dad the whole time you’ve had him here? How many broken fingers does he have, or missing toe nails, or how many times has he been waterboarded? How many times has he been shocked? Starved? Don’t give me any crap about torture!” I roared in Jim’s face. Then I did a terrible thing: I grabbed his right hand and squeezed hard.
Jim fell to his knees, and I released his immediately swelling hand, his index finger bent in an unusual direction. “if he had just cooperated, this would have all been over long ago!” Jim bellowed, cradling his hand to his chest.
Cheri nudged me aside, and said, “Yeah, well it’s all going to be over in a few minutes. Better late than never. Lucas, knock out that hole in the floor. That’s right where General Jim’s head is going.”
Oh, man, thanks, Cheri… she knew just what to do to get me to cool down…
“Listen to me, sonny boy. We can’t be like them. Use your logic and do what you know is right. Even now, after everything he’s been through, your dad would still say the same thing. If you save yourself but lose who you are, you have gained nothing.”
Okay… okay, I know you’re right… I shouldn’t have done that. That’s something I would have done when I was a little kid throwing a tantrum because I didn’t understand something.
“Right. Now, let’s move, but keep your mind clear, Lucinda.”
Wait, I’m not… oh, I get it. You’re getting my mind refocused. You’re pretty smart.
“You don’t even know. Onward, sonny boy.”
The building shook from another thunderous Boom! from somewhere above us, and the circle in the floor fell through on its own, clanging on the floor below and just missing a couple of soldiers. Cheri jammed Jim’s head through the hole, and this time I didn’t have to squeeze his hand to get him to shout. “Attention! Stand down. That is a direct order! Clear the building immediately!”
There were dozens of soldiers and other staff in the floor below us, and they all froze at the sight of Jim poking his upper body through a hole in the ceiling. Finally, one of the soldiers said, “General, sir, are you…”
“Just do it, dammit! On my authority, NOW!”
The soldiers and staff members seemed shocked at the sight of their general, but they hustled, and soon the sound of their footsteps disappeared through doors and down hallways.
Ava, did any of that seem weird to you?
“It all seemed just a tiny bit theatrical, didn’t it? Let’s be careful here, sonny boy. Have your flechette hand ready.”
How many pellets do we have left?
“Eight in your arm.”
How about laser charge?
“Down to forty percent.”
And enough charge for one more EMP shot?
“Yep. That’s it, shorty.”
And the nearest jet suit is about three and a half kilometers away.
“It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it? But here we are, and your dad’s right down there. Now’s not the time to hesitate.”
Oh, boy.
I dropped to the floor below, and the room appeared empty; as before, Cheri dangled General Jim down from above, and I caught him as he fell through, still in his underwear and suit jacket. Cheri swung down last, and I pulled up the leg of the scrubs, exposing my thigh; it opened as if I had installed an invisible zipper, and I removed Cheri’s laser and flechette gun, tossing them to her. The room we dropped into was large, about twenty-five meters square, with a broad, square service counter in the center of the room, doors all around the perimeter, and a hallway on each side of the room bending out of sight. Cheri scouted behind the service counter and scanned the room, then called, “It’s clear.”
“Down the hall to your left. Put General Jim in front of you, in case there are any traps. This is it, sonny boy.”
I motioned to Cheri to get behind me, and I pushed Jim down the hall. The hall turned to the right after five meters, and there, not in a cell, just out in the open, twenty meters away sitting at a table, his hands chained behind his back and a covering over the lower part of his face, his head shaved to a half-inch of stubble, a shaggy beard on his face and looking skinnier than ever, sat Dad. My Dad.
39
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
122052 23:31
-If it’s (LPJ) or (BG), they’re working together, so it would be both of them. Or at least the other would know about it, but we have to stop wasting time worrying about that right now. Is there anything else we can do to help the boy at this point? I mean, look at the drone video. How is he going to get past all those people?
-Stand by, Director… the VTOL pilots have come across two bags in the hills west of the base… there is what appears to be some kind of jet suit and a second jet pack in them. I think it’s safe to assume that those belong to the boy and Chi Kim. And… they are fairly sure that the jets that have blown up on the tarmac of Area 52 were hit by… by a laser weapon of some kind, originating in the hills somewhere north of their location.
-But why would the boy and Chi Kim leave their jet stuff and go further north to… wait, it’s not the
m, is it? It must be (WK), he’s the only other person who would have a weapon like that, and we can assume that, if he jumped out of the corporate jet, he must have a suit like the one the VTOL pilots found, so he could have made it up into those hills before the VTOLs got there. And, if the boy and Chi Kim left their jets in the hills… that has to mean that they went onto the base on foot, right? They’ve got guts, that’s for sure… they have to just be improvising, though, right? They had no time to come up with a plan with any detail.
-I think you have it exactly right. Our focus has to be on anything we can do to improve the boy’s chances, so… I have a somewhat radical suggestion.
-Well, are you going to tell it to me, or am I supposed to receive it telepathically?
-This is definitely counter to one of our goals, but I recommend we have the VTOL pilots locate (WK), if it is indeed him who is causing the chaos we’re seeing. They can join forces and together come up with a plan to get the boy and his father out of there. We know (WK) is intent on helping the boy already, and we also know just how clever he is. In addition, he is obviously in possession of some Bright Hand weapons. It will require us to abandon our campaign to capture him, obviously, but if the boy doesn’t make it out with his dad, none of this will matter much, anyway.
-No, we can’t risk the VTOL pilots. They have to stay with their vehicles and be ready to act, so (WK) is on his own. He’d turn them against us in five minutes; you see that, don’t you? No, they need to avoid him until they’re ready to capture him. That’s final, (SVC).
-Stand by… a large vehicle has just gone through the southeastern gate to Area 52, you’ll see it via the drone video on your screen. Look at the image on the left side of your screen; that’s a shot of the vehicle as it stopped at the gate.
-Is that… is that who I think it is?
-Obviously Oakes talked his way through the gate.
Does this mean our chances of success have gone up or down?
-Hard to say what kind of impact they could have on that mass of soldiers and staff, but they could at least add to the chaos, so I would say a net positive for us.
-But still a long way to go. Holy crap, (SVC). Hand me those crackers.
****
“ Oh my God, there he is! Lucas, careful now, make sure you keep General Jim in front of you in case it’s a trap; I’ll cover behind us,” said Cheri, and it was good that she did, because my mind had gone blank. I just stared; Dad’s eyes were wide, and he seemed to be trying to shake his head, but couldn’t move much. He was wearing a baggy set of blue scrubs, and nothing on his feet.
Oh, man, if they hurt him… that’s really him, right? It’s not a hologram or any other kind of trick, is it?
“That’s him, sonny boy. His heart is going a mile a minute. Listen closely, you can hear it.”
You… you’re right, he’s real… it seems like I’ve been waiting for this for so long, now I don’t know what to do…
I noticed that General Jim had his head turned and was looking at me, and I’m not sure but he almost seemed amused. “Well, Lucas? This is what you wanted, right? Let’s go down there and talk to your papa. Maybe we can still work this out.”
The hall was dark aside from a light directly over Dad’s head, so his features were mostly in shadow, making it even harder than usual for me to read his expression. Okay, deep breaths, think clearly… make General Jim go first in case there are any traps… hey, that gives me an idea… In the most commanding voice I could muster, I said, “Wait a minute. Jim, you go down there and unchain him and take off the thing covering his mouth. Unless you want me to break your other hand.”
Jim held up his right hand, puffed up to twice its normal size and his index finger jutting out at an odd angle. “No need for threats, Lucas. We’re on the same side here. All I want is some information, and then this is all over.”
He seems awful calm and confident… I guess that’s how you get to be a general… there has to be a trap of some kind, right? They wouldn’t just leave dad in the open like that…
“Go on, walk down there and stand next to my dad. Let’s see if you set off any traps along the way.”
“That’s it, sonny boy. Watch carefully, now. Let’s make sure he stays away from the walls. Don’t give him the chance to push any hidden buttons or anything like that.”
“I’d feel more comfortable if I had shoes and pants on, but I guess that’s out of the question,” said Jim as he walked toward Dad. He walked straight down the middle of the hall as if he was taking a stroll in the park, and soon was standing next to dad behind the small wooden table, a grin on his face. “There, you see? Come on down here and have a seat, Lucas. Let’s talk this over.”
I focused on Dad’s face and did my best to keep my mind clear. His eyes are wide, but what does that mean? Is he scared, or excited, or is he trying to warn me of something?
I was trying as hard as I could to stay under control, but I had to say something. “Dad, are you okay? What should I do?”
He was moving his eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it meant, and he couldn’t move his head, or anything else for that matter. I turned my attention to Jim, and he seemed to count under his breath. Wait… that’s not good…
“I was able to detangle your dad’s subvocalizations. He’s saying MOVE! General Jim has been inviting us to come down there, knowing we would hesitate! BACK”… and that was the moment my feet came off the ground; my body… I’m being yanked apart from every angle… can’t move… can’t hardly even think… am I… I’m spinning… slow, head over heal… Ava… Ava, what’s happening? Ava, where are you? Cheri, where… where are you going… no, go ahead, fast as you can… I hope at least you can get away… sorry, Dad… I tried, I did my best… where are you, Ava… help me, someone… what’s that humming noise? I can feel it, crackling… there’s an awful lot of energy in here somewhere…
I glimpsed Jim as I circled, and he had his hand on Dad’s shoulder as if they were old friends. “I knew it’d take a lot to stop you. I’ve been thinking about it ever since you came along, Lucas. I’ve had our best minds working on it overtime. Only got it completed a few hours ago. He can’t say so right now because he’s gagged, and, well, drugged, but your dad is impressed too. I bet you’d like to know how we did it, right? What’s that? Aww, I know you can’t answer, I’m just teasing you a little. We knew your system is electrical, and we knew a tremendous amount of energy was flowing through you. We weren’t sure how, but that almost doesn’t matter. Electrons are drawn to magnets, the more powerful, the stronger the attraction. If they are totally surrounded by a powerful magnet, they are effectively suspended, and that’s where you find yourself. It took quite a while to paint the electromagnet imbedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling around you so it was indistinguishable from the rest of the surfaces, but you have to admit the artists did an expert job. Had to pull some strings to get that much superconducting material out here, but I have friends in prominent places, and I sold them on your value to the country and its defense, so don’t let me down, Lucas. We knew you’d probably have an EMP with you, so we had to move the power source a couple of kilometers away, and we used generators that run on diesel. A bunch of them, as it turns out. Now, Dr. Taylor, do you want to tell us what we want to know, or shall we increase the magnetic energy until it pulls your boy apart? I don’t think either of us wants that. Here, let’s remove this gag so we can have a little talk.”
No, Dad, don’t do it… don’t do it… I’ll get out of this somehow… Ava, help… where are you… wait, where did all those soldiers come from… they’re filling the whole room out there… oh, they’re afraid to get too close… and… it doesn’t look like… any of them have guns… I guess they didn’t have time to make plastic ones… funny… it feels like… like I’m being pulled apart but… I don’t really feel anything… I guess it’s not that bad of a way to die…
Another explosion from somewhere outside rocked the entire building, and the so
ldiers had to grab on to one another to keep from falling. And then… as I heard Benji say once, all hell broke loose.
40
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
122052 23:48
-Check the video, Director… you’re looking at the roof of the primary structure. Something up there is drawing a lot of attention, and… uh-oh, that drone went dead. There is a second drone, a kilometer further away… switching now… ah, there we go. Interesting… all the lights that had been operable outside have gone dead… the fires from the explosions are lighting the exterior, but that’s it… the soldiers are firing on the roof, but unless they’re using night vision, they’re firing blind. This is quite a development.
-Do you think it’s the boy? Is he breaking out? We know he has an EMP device, right? That could have been him knocking out the power. We may come out of this after all!
-It’s just as likely that it’s someone breaking in rather than breaking out. It’s safe to assume that, whatever Bright Hand tech the boy has, (WK) has, and possibly an upgraded version.
-So you think that’s (WK) up there, trying to get in to help the boy?
-Unclear, but we’ll know soon enough. I’m going to remote pilot the drone and get it as close as I can.
-When all this is over, if the Americans find our crashed drones, they’ll trace them back to us, won’t they?
Reassemble (Singular Book 4) Page 25